Improvement in relays for telegraphic instruments



O-LITHOGMPHER, WASHINGTON D c tutti @time EDWARD S. HIDDEN, OF MILLBURN,NEW JERSEY.

Lette/rs Patent N 99,892, 11a-teal February 15, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN RELAYS-FOR TELEGRAPHIC INSTRUMENTS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making peut of tbssame.

To all whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, EDWARD S. HIDDEN, of Millburn, in the county ofEssex, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Relays, as they are sometimes termed, being instrumentswhich break ami makeelcctromagnetic circuits, when anotherelectro-magnetic tircuit is broken or closed.

Such instruments are usually employed in connection with long circuitsreaching from one place to another, in such manner that when such longcircuit is opened or closed, it shall act upon the-.relay so that thelatter shall open and close a short or local circuit at the localitywhere a telegraphic message lis to he received.

The idea of opening and closing one circuit by means of the opening andclosing of another, and of using a short circuit to work the telegraphicrecorder, was originated by Morse, and he also devised the lirst relay.

Since his time many such instruments have been devised, and, amongothers, various forms of an instrument specially described in theEnglish patent granted to George Little, No.v1,053, A. I). 1867.

My instrument .embodies many of the features of the instrument describedin that patent, and some of the features of a recording instrumentdescribed in English Letters Patent No. 2,960, A. I). 1867, granted toWilliam Robert Lake.

These' patents are referred to in order materially to shorten mydescription.

In the. drawings making part of this specification- Figure l is avertical section through `thewhole contrivance in the preferred form;

Figure 2 is a similar vertical section of the same apparat-us withoutthe leveling cont-rivancc;

'Figure 3 is a magnified section ofthe fork or trident of tigA 2; aml

Figures 4 to 10, both inclusive, are sketches exhibiting modificationsof parts of the contrivance which will hereafter be referred to.

Ihe moxing instrun'ient in. the relay, which makes and breaks thesecondary circuit, is to be in all cases a float arranged in a reservoircontaining liquid, which is Sourronnded by a coil, the coil and floatbeing similar to those described in the patents referred to, and thetioat being caused to move up and down, as set forth in those patents;but I prefer to use a glass -tloat, as especially described in Lakeslpatent int-losing one or more permanent magnets, or one or more wirerods, capable oi' being magnetizcd by induction, and by preferencesmaller in size tha-11 the one described by Lake.

The reservoir in which the float moves is by preference like thatdescribed as preferred in the same patent, except that it has noregulating tube, and is partially composed of glass, so that not onlythe vibrations, but the normal position of the float may be ascertainedby inspection.

This float, as it moves up and down, makes and breaks the secondarycircuit, and its oscillations may be to a certain extent regulated andcontrolled by permanent adjustable magnets, as described in the patentsbefore referred to.

In the drawings, the reservoir is shown at a a a, the glass part at a*al.

I- prefer tomake it open at Abetteln and air-tight, and to insert in thetop a. movable stop, by preterence a. screw, a, packed by a collar andnut, or in other suitable manner, and at the bottom I make a. bridge,a5, which is a dat rod with a hole in the center, crossing thecylindrical opening dametrically.l

I prefer to make the reservoir circular in all its cross-sections, thelower part being inclosedin the coil b b, which is by preferencecontained in a coilbox, and connected with the long circuit, asspeciallyy described in the Ien patent of Lake, one end of the wireforming the coil being connected with the linsulated ring b' b', andthence through the wire c, which bears upon the ring, with the standardc* in 1, or c in fic. 2, and the other end of the coil 4being inconnection through the box with the standards c of i figs. 1 and 2. f v.

The reservoir is t0 be filled wholly or partially,thc latter bypreference, with a suitable fluid, and in it is located the float (l,with its incloscd magnets.

To the lower part of the fioat is to be attached a fork or trident e e,figs. 1, 2, and 3. (See also for modifications thereof figs. 4, 5, and6) Y.

I prefer to make this fork of platinum and of a piece of metal distinctfrom the magnet or rod contained in the float, but I sometimes intend tofork the rod or magnet, iu which case the fork and 'magnet will be alliu one piece, and I prefer that the prong or prongscounectiug with onecup, hereafter described, should b e longer than the prong or prongsconnecting with the other-cup, and also to make,onev prong inthe axialline of the stem of the oat. 'This prong is to pass through the aperturein the bridge; and is guided by it, and the trident or fork maybeattached to the glass stem by a little wax or cement.

Below the reservoir lie two cups q g', one in connection with each poleof the secondary or local circuit, by means of bent rods or wires d d',and I prefer to make one of these cups annular surrounding the other.

'Ihcre is an interval between the tops of the cups and the bottoni ofthe reservoir, and I prefer this construction, as it gives free accessto the cups and the prongs, and enables the operator to` see all motionsof the prongs, and also their normal position,

checked by the adjustable stop. Its oscillations may to a certain extentbe governed by a permanent magnet, adjustable in the cavity of the stop,and another permanent magnet below the float may also be applied, asdescribed in Lakes patent.

I prefer to make the cups adjustable with reference to the reservoir,and thebest plan is to cut a screw upon the block in which the cups areformed, which is embraced by a nut, h.

This nut has a flange underlying another flange, k, formed in anothernut, screwed to the bed-plate l.

A screw plug, in, holds up the liange on 7i, and by means of m, thisflange can either be jammed fast, or its rotation permitted underconsiderable friction.

By turning the nut h, the block in which the cups are formed may beraised and lowered, the block being prevented from revolving either bythe rods (l d', which are slightly flexible, or by any device which wille prevent rotation while it admit-s of vertical movement.

By examination of the drawings and this description, it will beperceived that provisions are made for limiting the length of vibrationof the tioat, and for adjusting the cups or equivalent thereof, such asamalgainated buttons, with'relation to thenormal position ofthe float,and also that in the preferred foi-in there is an open space between thereservoir and the cups, all of which points are advantageous in tlie'useofthe instrument.

Thegreat peculiarity of the contrivance, however, may be defined asfollows, viz: That in it the points, wires, or' prongs, connecting withthe two cups ot' the Alocal circuit, are to be at the same end of thefloat while the iloat is surrounded, and can be worked by a single coil.

In the Little patent, the rule of construction is that the twoconnections with 'the local circuit shall .be at opposite ends of thefloat.

lhe exception is represented at lig. 6 'of that patent, where theconnections are both at the lower end of the float, but in that case theprngs are wide apart, and necessarily so, as two' coils are employed,each enclosiii g one ofthe prongs.

The rule of construction o f myg'apparatus is, under all modificationsthereof', that the connections shall both beat the same end of thefloat, and' so arranged in reference to the latter, and its magnet or`magnets, that it can be worked by a single coil.`H

In a long course ot' experiments with various forms of Littlesapparatus, I have discovered that it is not always reliable when feeblecurrents come over the main line,'owing to the fact that the connectionsbetween the wires ot' the local circuit may be nia-de and broken by thependulum-like swinging or oscillating motion ot' his float-s, as well asby the up and down motion derived from the coil.

rlhis fault is especially observable when the up and down movements arerapid and of small extent, and under such circumstances this relay ismost required. This fault was clearly traceable to the arrangement ofthe connectionsat opposite ends of the float, but the saine fault existsin lig. 6, where the prongs, although both at one end of the float, areso wide apart that a feeble oscillating motion will much impair theuseful- -ness of the apparatus.

After a long course of experiments I devised the pla-n of two prongs atthe same end of the float, so near together that the oscillating motiondoes not effeet. their position with reference tothe mercury in cups,and so combined with the dont that the lat-ter may be and isworked by asingle coil.

' Experiments with this apparatus have proved to me that it is a greatimprovement upon Littles, and I have further improved upon itsreliability by coinbining a guide, namely, the aperture in the bridge,with the float and prongs, at a point near the end of the prongs, 'itbeing clear that by the use of such a combination even wide oscillationsof tl'ie float bulb will but little alter the relative level of theprongs.

The whole apparatus is to be worked or used, and its various parts willact as described in the Little patent, and I prefer for obvious reasonsto level the stand l l, before putting it in operation.

In order to do this readily, and as l'ar as possible to prevent carelessoperators from neglecting this precaution, l attach the stand ll of tig.l, to ginibals, just as an ordinary mariners compass is attached, theoutside pivots ot' the ring being mounted iu colu'mns, as clearly shownin tig. 1.

A heavy weight, sich as q, is attached to the stand, by preference tothe nut m of tig. 1, and the apparatus will then level itself.

Binding screws such as s s may be used to steady the weight. After ithas settled into the position required by gravity, I sometimes intend touse prongs at the upper end ofthe float, as illustrated by tigs. 7 to10, inclusive, but the prongs should be closer together than theredrawn, and the reservoir then becomes a tube open at top and closed atbottom. And I also intend to use two prongs, to make connections witholie ofthe cups, and one with the other, :is illustrated, but I prefertwo-'prongs only, and although they may be ofthe same length and dipinto two cups, the mercury in which is at the same level, l prefereitherv to make the prongs of different lengths, or to use a differentlevel ot` mercury in the cups, and thus work with one prong always inthe mercury.

I claim as of my own invention- 1. .llie combination of a tloat with areservoir and single coil and two prongs and cups, bot-li at tlie sameend of the tioat,the combination being and acting substantially asdescribed.

v2. 'llic reservoir, open at bottom, in combination with a float andprongs and cups arranged below the reservoir, the combination beingsubstantially such as specified. Y

3. In combination with the relay, as described, the the levelingcontrivance, as specilied.

4. In combination with a reservoir open at the bottom and a floatandprongs, two mercury cups, adjustable vertically with reference to thereservoir, substantially as described.

5. In combination with a float, reservoir, and coil, all substantiallysucli as described, a guide applied to the float near the end thereofwhere the prongs are located, substantially as specitied. I 6. Iliecups, with a screw on the outside thereof', in combination with therevolving nut and the connecting wires, which prevent revolution andpermit vertical movement Aof the cups, and in combination with theseelements the jam-screw plug and the tlangcs, whereby the nut may bejammed, as described.

7. '.llie weight attached to th'e screw-plug, when the nut in which thelatter rests issupported by giinbals, as described. g Y v In testimonywhereof. I have hereunto subscribed my name. E. S. HIDDEN.

Vitiiesses:

F. A. PABLO, FRANCIS Looxwoon.

